


Paying the Debt

by Merfilly



Series: Disasters Turned Aside [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, attachments can save you, really - Freeform, taking Dark Disciple and using what I want
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 12:28:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11127012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Ahsoka cannot deliver on her promises to Asajj, so she places herself in the assassin's hands to pay the debt.





	Paying the Debt

Asajj Ventress was not a patient woman by any means. When she saw the now exonerated little Jedi coming her way, she pushed off her vantage and fell in beside her, only to snarl as the welcoming song of her lightsabers was missing.

"Where are they?!"

Ahsoka reached up and latched onto the woman's arm, pulling her out of the foot traffic into a small recessed portion between two shops. 

"I did not get them, or mine, or even begin to ask for your pardon. Because you were right."

The satisfaction of those words bought Ahsoka Tano time to explain, as Asajj licked her lips. "How so?"

"They are lost, and have no idea what loyalty really is." The small fighter, one that had proven time again to have the heart and skill to go to the wire against Asajj herself, took on a stubborn look. "I can't deliver on my promise to you, so I am doing the only thing I know how to do. I'm here to serve out my debt to you."

Asajj appraised her a long moment, the instant rejection swallowed down as she recognized something in the younger fighter. Ahsoka was as lost as she had been the moment her master had been struck down. She was seeking direction, and Asajj had the power to grant that, to either take Ahsoka down her own path… or let the former Jedi brat help her find one that was less cloaked by shadows and hatred.

"We'll need lightsabers."

"I know where Jedha is, and they are not strictly bound to the Order. If the Guardians approve, we can harvest crystal there," Ahsoka offered to her.

"Hmm, you keep being useful and I won't abandon you somewhere without a spaceport," Asajj warned her, setting off for her ship.

* * *

Ahsoka admired the new hilts she had made, then smirked when Asajj's blades lit crimson beside her. The crystals knew their mistress still walked in the Dark, but Ahsoka was certain that her companion was not driven as much by the thirst for power as she had been.

"Nice work, harpy."

"Oh do shut-up, pet," Asajj said, testing the connection between hilts. They snapped together and held, drawing a pleased sound from the woman. "Do yours even work?" she asked as she snapped them off, separating them to put on her hip.

For answer, Ahsoka picked them up, full length hilt held in the reverse grip, shoto one forward of her in the traditional style, and pressed both activators.

She gasped, as the shoto lit in brilliant, crystalline white light, and she turned to verify that the full length saber matched it in color.

Asajj was equally surprised, and walked full around her once, even as Ahsoka inspected the light, let the thrum of the crystals pour through her.

"That is not a color I recall my master ever mentioning," Asajj said in curiosity.

"I don't know what it means," Ahsoka answered, before powering hers off. She hooked them to her belt before looking at Asajj. "I've never seen a white blade, not even in my classes."

"As long as they work," Asajj grumbled, not liking the mystery, but moving on.

* * *

Asajj had held off on going back to her homeworld, taking a few small jobs that didn't push Ahsoka's ethical boundaries too much, but there was a pressure inside her, one that was growing too powerful to resist. 

"You can run off now, little pet," Asajj said, as they stood at the ramp of her ship.

Ahsoka's jaw firmed, and she reached out for Asajj's wrist. "Haven't paid my debt, harpy."

"Dathomir is no place for a Jedi."

"Yeah, good thing we don't have one of those around," the younger fighter declared, daring Asajj to push it further.

The elder woman growled and stalked up the ramp, followed by her companion.

* * *

Dathomir, the region that they landed in, had seen war, recently. Asajj snarled, and Ahsoka could only stand by with a sense of helplessness as she saw the rites for the dead being performed. She slowly grasped that those who were performing them were from other, allied clans.

Asajj was violently unapproachable, but Ahsoka found ways to help. The men that had come were allowed to do the hard labor of recovery, but she noted they did not touch the bodies. One of the women that seemed to be in charge said there would be no taboo in Ahsoka touching them, and less if she used the Force, so that was what she began doing. Asajj was prowling from place to place, talking to the few survivors, speaking with leaders from those who had come to aid — Ahsoka heard the mutters of 'what will they demand in payment' — while she planned.

It was their third night there, and Asajj suddenly was in Ahsoka's space, both of them hooded against the drizzle of rain. Ahsoka shifted to share the space in front of a heating coil, and after a long moment, the elder woman accepted that concession to comfort.

"I mean to end him," she growled, and Ahsoka nodded, knowing just who she meant. "I will go alone if I must!" Asajj declared next, and that made Ahsoka look at her with understanding. Asking for help was not something that came easily for the former Sith assassin.

"I may not be the most skilled in all things of the Force," she began, "but I know where my strength lies. My sabers are ready for this mission, Asajj. He's been killing my brothers, my men, and that would be enough for me to follow you. But, you helped me when only my master had faith in me. I stand by my pledge to return that in full."

"How many times have I tried to kill you, Tano? How many of your precious men have I killed, maimed?"

Ahsoka nodded to those angry, confused words. "I will never not be a little angry at you for that, Asajj. I can't fully let it go; it would cheapen my men's memories and losses. But you are changing, and if you take out Dooku, more of my men might live."

That put it in terms that the Dathomiri could understand, before she lapsed into silence. Later, there would be plans.

* * *

Running into Quinlan Vos in the process of tracking down Dooku was not exactly on the highlights of the entire affair. As Asajj bandaged Ahsoka's thigh from a too-close encounter with Vos's lightsaber, the youngest of the trio glared at the very adeptly bound Jedi, holding her focus on keeping the Force around him with all the skill she could muster.

It turned out she had enough skill to make it hard for him to breathe, and she had to back off the pressure wrapped around his ribs, even as she internally scolded herself for being quite so violent. She was firmly committed to staying in the Light, even if she couldn't be a Jedi.

"I don't know what lies he's fed you, what leverage he found over you, or just… if you got lost in being a Shadow," Ahsoka said, pleased to see his eyes go wide. "No, nobody told me that. I just know that Kiffar have certain gifts, that you were made Knight very young, and that you disappear a lot, despite being a pretty decent fighter. Not hard to logic out.

"But this isn't about any of that. This is about you Falling."

"I haven't," he protested.

"Tell that to the hole in her leg I'm healing, Vos," Asajj growled at him.

"Master Vos," Ahsoka said, eyes gone as narrow as they could get. "We've been here for days. We've watched you with him. I'm not saying that you have Fallen. But I know you're close. And I'm going to say two more things, then let you choose your side."

He eyed her like she was as venomous as they said her species could be, and Asajj finished binding the wound off, also listening to her young companion.

"Kenobi. Secura."

Two names, and they hit Quinlan like she had smashed him in the chest with her considerable Force push. Asajj wondered at it, even as she scowled a bit at the mention of her frequent nemesis, Kenobi.

"What's your plan?" he asked.

Ahsoka smiled, teeth glinting sharply. "That's all on Asajj." She looked at her companion, letting her confidence that Quinlan was on their side leak through the skin-to-skin contact where Asajj's hand still rested on her thigh.

"I want him dead," she hissed.

"So does the Jedi Council," Quinlan admitted. "It's why I was assigned."

Ahsoka took a deep breath at the idea of the Jedi High Council ordering an assassination. It was one thing for an individual to choose to take the pragmatic route, and quite another for the institution to decree it and assign it to one that had not had any say in the decision.

Choosing not to accept Windu's entirely too-wrong offer was proving to be the best way she could heed the Force within her.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the beginning of how Ahsoka wound up in such bad shape at Dex's. There will be another part to show how the clones reached the point they did, with the Republic side of events, and then one that shows how it all shakes out.


End file.
